THE INSTANT I SAW the intruder block the open doorway, I zapped him with my vampire glare.
Dark wraparound sunglasses shielded his eyes.
Damn, I couldn’t hypnotize him.
I took a mental snapshot.
A red aura blazing like the fire from a rocket nozzle surrounded his hefty bulk. Tall, easily six-four. A big man who knew how to use his muscles. Black leather jacket. A head like a rectangular hunk of stone topped with short, wiry blond hair.
Was he the same gunman who had chased me into the ditch with an M16? And the guy who broke into my apartment and whacked me on the head? How did he know I was here? Was he stalking me? Who did he work for?
Wendy tucked herself next to the overhead cabinets above me, like a moth trying to hide.
He shifted his weight to one side. The afternoon sunlight burst around him and flooded the kitchen to scald my naked torso.
I stumbled backwards toward the counter and clutched the air in pain. Through tearing eyes, I glimpsed the long barrel of a silencer jerk toward me. A plastic bag covered the pistol, a professional killer’s trick to catch ejected casings.
I knocked over a row of bottles on the counter. Instinctively, I snatched one bottle and blindly hurled it at the gunman. He ducked when the glass bottle shattered against the doorframe by his head and splashed olive oil. His pistol fired. A bullet tore into the ceiling. Wendy flinched. Flakes of plaster rained down.
Fumbling with the next bottle, I threw it wildly and smashed it on the floor between his feet to make him dance as vinegar doused his legs.
I clutched the next bottle and knocked loose the glass stopper. The liquid splashed on my skin and burned like acid. The pungent odor of garlic oil stung my nose. I yelped and jumped back.
A bullet gouged the countertop inches from my hand.
Desperately, I grabbed another small round bottle and cocked my arm.
“Not that one,” Wendy shouted.
Too late. My arm whipped around and the bottle shot from my hand. The bottle struck above the door and sprayed the gunman with liquid that immediately turned into a white cloud of vapor.
The spikes of the gunman’s aura blunted and writhed, signaling his confusion. His pistol trembled. He teetered against the doorjamb, fired again and missed.
A fine mist from the vapor settled on my skin and soothed the burning pain. An intense sweet flowery smell overcame me. Dizzy, I leaned against the counter to keep from falling over.
Wendy groaned in disbelief and floated to the floor.
The sunglasses couldn’t hide the alarm in the gunman’s expression. The spikes of his aura became short and dense like fuzz. His posture relaxed. He smiled, a wide slash of big teeth.
The gunman walked toward me, holding his left hand up to reach for my face.
I wanted to shrink away from him but didn’t. From the depths of my confusion, I felt the swoon of anticipation.
His thick fingers clasped the back of my neck. He pulled me forward tenderly. Wrinkles and tiny pockmarks marred his complexion, yet I found him irresistible. His smile condensed as his lips pressed together. Our lips barely touched.
Droplets rained on my skin. Immediately my desire turned into mortification. The face which seconds ago seemed handsome now repulsed me. Both the gunman and I shoved each other away.
He squeezed his tongue between his teeth as if to scrape away any taste of me.
Likewise, I wiped my mouth in disgust. More droplets drizzled onto my skin. Wendy worked the trigger of a small brass spritzer to mist the gunman and me. As my skin absorbed the droplets, my revulsion intensified.
The gunman retched and staggered out of the kitchen doorway and onto the back porch. “Next time, Felix,” he yelled. “Next time.”
He lurched toward a wooden gate at the far end of the small yard. I lost my would-be assassin in the dazzle of the afternoon sun. A car door slammed in the alley. The sudden squeal of tires meant someone had been waiting for him.
Wendy set the spritzer on the counter and didn’t move until the sound of the car faded. She tiptoed over the broken glass on the floor, seemingly unaffected by the lingering vapor. She pushed the kitchen door closed and pulled the curtain tight over the window. The darkened room calmed and soothed me.
I slid against the counter cabinet until I rested on the floor. Spots danced across my vision. “What the hell happened?”
“You threw a bottle of love potion. That’s what saved you.” She raked her fingers through her tresses, now stringy and oily. “You can see what it does to my hair.”
“I’ll buy you shampoo.”
Wendy pointed to the spritzer. “I had to counteract the potion with a repulsion tonic. Not that I wasn’t tempted to watch you and our visitor go at it. But I have dibs on you. He can wait for his turn.”
“It’ll be a long wait.”
“I hope so. He wasn’t a vampire hunter, was he?” she asked.
“No. He wasn’t from the group who attacked me before. But I’m positive he was the guy who whacked me on the head. He’s come after me at least twice already.”
“Then who is he? And who sent him?”
“I’m guessing the same people behind the cover-up at Rocky Flats. I was warned my investigation into the nymphomania was more important than murder. I didn’t figure that might have meant my murder.”
I picked up a fragment of the bottle that had contained the love potion. “Maybe this was the cause of the outbreak.”
Wendy shook her head. “I doubt it. It’s love potion, not Spanish fly. Did any of the women mention falling for their…uh…conquests?”
“No. The outbreak was all about grinding genitals. Plus, their auras changed colors from red to yellow. The gunman’s didn’t.”
“So why come after you?” She pulled a candle and matches from a counter drawer. “What makes you such a threat?”
“That’s the frustrating part. I wish they’d tell me. So far I haven’t discovered anything worth killing someone over. At least from what I understand.” I squinted at the candle. “More magic?”
“Depends on your definition of magic. I prefer to think of it as chemistry humans haven’t yet discovered.” Setting the candle into a glass holder, she lit the wick. Smoke from the candle flame carried the smell of sage through the kitchen.
The spots in my eyes faded. The fog of dizziness eased.
Wendy’s aura crackled again. Glancing to the door, her eyebrows narrowed and creased her forehead. “Think he’ll come back?”
“Not if he figures he might end up kissing me again. But if the question is, are we still in danger? That answer is yes.” I pushed to get off the floor but was too weak.
Wendy opened the refrigerator and pulled out a steel bottle. She squatted beside me and uncapped it. “Here. It’s bull blood. The taurine should rejuvenate you. I was hoping to use it to prolong our play time but that can wait.”
I sipped the cool blood and rested. Wendy brewed herbal tea and sat opposite me on the floor. She folded her legs and the hem of her blouse covered her hips. The steam from her mug carried the aroma of chamomile and lemon.
“That was pretty ballsy of you,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“You could’ve clung to the ceiling and attacked from above. At first I thought that’s what you were going to do. Instead you faced him head-on.”
I didn’t want to admit that my ballsy head-on attack was the fault of my weakening powers. Wendy’s love potion is what saved us, not my heroics.
As dusk fell, the curtains on the windows became dark rectangles. Strength returned to my limbs. I went to the living room to retrieve the rest of my clothes. I decided to contact Bob Carcano and have him watch my back while I hunted for the gunman.
Wendy followed. “You leaving?”
I buttoned my shirt. “Some asshole just tried to kill me-us-so I need to do more than watch you drink tea. Let’s get going.”
“What’s this ‘Let’s get going?’” Wendy rattled her mug of tea against a saucer. Her green aura surged up a notch in intensity. “I can take care of myself. I’ve got plenty of potions. If he comes back again, I’ll turn him into a frog and feed him to a duck.”
I found my cell phone and keyed Bob’s number. “I’d like to see that. Until then, I need to find the gunman. He’s got answers to my questions.”
“And he’s got a pistol, too. Don’t forget that.”
“I won’t.” Bob didn’t answer, so I left a message for him to meet me at my apartment.
Wendy escorted me to the front door. She rested her head against my shoulder and hugged me. “Be careful, Felix. We have unfinished business here.” She gave my crotch a light squeeze.
My fangs popped out. I touched them to her neck, then pecked her forehead and left.
Outside, I detected nothing unusual. With the onset of night, I didn’t need to worry about the sun burning me. Once inside my car, I slid my makeup kit from under the driver’s seat and covered my pale vampire complexion. I drove home. Bob’s Buick waited alongside the curb in front of my apartment complex. His engine was running.
Seeing Bob in his car, I parked my Dodge and walked over to him.
“I got your message,” he said. “You need to come with me.”
“Why?” I pointed to my apartment. “We can talk inside.”
“No time.” The lock on his front passenger door snapped open.
I got into the Buick and buckled up. “Where’re we going?”
Bob headed down the street. “The nidus council is meeting tonight to discuss the vânätori de vampir. We’ve already lost Ziggy and Andre. If we lose a third vampire, all hell will break loose. You know, fang first and ask questions later. The mood is ugly.”
“It’ll get uglier if they hear about this.” I described the attack at Wendy’s.
Bob’s aura lit up like napalm. “Damn it, Felix. Trouble follows you like a shadow. And we aren’t supposed to cast shadows. How do you know this gunman wasn’t a vampire hunter?”
“Because he came after me with an automatic and a silencer, not with a crucifix and a wooden stake. And he knew my name.”
“No shit! this does make things uglier. That settles it.”
“Settles what?”
“Tonight you tell the nidus what you know about the vampire hunters and this hit man. After that, you leave Colorado. Disappear.”
“Bullshit. I’m staying to finish my investigation.”
“Because you gave your word to a friend at Rocky Flats?”
“It’s a matter of principle.”
“What about your principles regarding the rest of us? And Wendy? Have you bothered to think about what that gunman intended to do to her after he plugged you? I doubt he was going to give her a sympathy card and flowers.”
“You let me worry about Wendy.”
Bob stared at his outside mirror. His aura shrank around him.
“Did you hear me, Bob?”
“Yeah, I heard you.” He divided his attention between the road and the rearview mirrors. “We’re being followed.”
Immediately my fingers and ears buzzed. I tipped my head to check the mirror outside my window. A Ford Crown Vic pulled close. A black one. “They’re right on us.”
“Vânätori?” Bob accelerated until we about tapped the bumper of a delivery truck in front of us.
I turned my head around to see.
The Ford surged into the oncoming lane of traffic and gained on us. A familiar aura filled the passenger side of the windshield.
“Not vampire hunters. It’s him,” I said. “The gunman from Wendy’s place.”
The gunman’s aura flared.
“Get down,” I yelled to Bob.
A swarm of bullets punched out our rear window.